A third round draft pick in 2007, Kansas City Royals LHP Danny Duffy was the first of a wave of promising young arms to flood the Royals farm system with major league caliber talent. At age 20, Duffy represented the Royals in the MLB Futures Game and the following spring, he earned an invitation to Spring Training.

All that promise almost slipped through the Royals fingers though as Duffy decided during the spring that he wanted to retire from baseball to reexamine his priorities.